Oracle

Chapter Twenty Three- Back to the Future

"Why? We have food here." Past Cass shrugged.

"Yeah, no, it's okay," Elliot mumbled, shuffling his feet and trying not to look at Cass, "It was a stupid idea anyway..."

And the memory was over. Elliot was, once again, gone. And Cass was alone.

She'd never felt so lonely before. Even when she was shut up away from her siblings she didn't feel so lonely. She'd got used to it, grown up that way. But now she had her siblings back, and she had had Elliot. And it was being taken away again. And she couldn't bear it.

She couldn't bear to sit on the couch like everything was okay. So she sat down on the floor, behind the chair where they'd put Elliot, so she wouldn't have to be entirely alone.

*

Cass was still on the floor next to Elliot when Five returned. Her eyes were glassy, with tears and a vision. Five knew the signs by now and knew to leave her be until the vision ended. But they only had ten minutes to meet up with everyone and go back home. Desperate times called for desperate measures. So Five bent down, took her by the shoulders, and shook her.

He watched as the clouds passed from her eyes and she snapped back into reality. Her eyes flittered around before they fell on him. She instantly frowned.

"What did you do that for?" she asked indignantly, scowling.

"We have to go," he said plainly, scrambling to his feet and heading for the stairs.

"No." Cass said, standing up. Five froze.

"What did you say?" he asked, scarily calmly, turning back around and striding towards her, accusatory finger pointing up at her.

"I'm not going."

"Why?" Five asked, infuriated. He clenched his fists and shook them in frustration.

"I saw Vanya," Cass said, explaining her visions, "She's in some kind of trouble. I think she got arrested," Cass said frantically as she looked around for her jacket, finding it tucked half behind a couch cushion.

"You think?"

"Yeah, I couldn't really see very well, someone was shaking me," Cass scathed, "It went all wobbly."

Shrugging on her jacket, Cass headed for the stairs. Five planted his feet and stood between her and the exit.

"I'm not staying," Cass reiterated, firmly.

"We have to go."

"Not without Vanya," Cass countered, "They've got her. They've got- Vanya's in real trouble."

Cass couldn't just leave her sister when she needed help. No matter what Five said.

"What are you doing?" Five sighed, looking like he was five seconds away from ripping his hair out of frustration, "You can't just leave! Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to the future," Cass laughed, throwing her arms up as she ran down the stairs.

"And how are you expecting to be able to do that?" Five folded his arms. Cass began walking backwards, turning around to face him.

"I did it once," she shrugged, "I stepped right into my vision and came out someplace else," she beamed, mimicking walking with her fingers, "I did it once. Just have to do it again. Come on Cass, focus!" she said to herself, stopping at the door when she realised she didn't need to physically go anywhere.

She screwed up her eyes and fists and hope, prayed, thought really hard about a vision hoping it would conjure one up. But her mind kept wandering. There were too many possibilities. Five wanted to go back with the others. Klaus was possessed by Ben and they both had different ideas of what to do with Klaus' body. And Allison was, whilst fighting off assassins, debating whether or not to tell her husband about her superpowers and crazy adopted family. There was just too much going on to focus entirely on Vanya.

But she had to.

Vanya needed her help and she was going to give it!

Slowly, her visions began to focus on the thought of Vanya. All the different timelines were coming into focus now. She could see Vanya in thousands of different scenarios but Cass focused on the one that was most similar to the last visions she had seen where Vanya had been arrested. She kept her sights on the possible future where Vanya was being interrogated. She focused on that one until all the other timelines faded away, merging together until only one was left. Then all she had to do was open her eyes.

*

When Cass opened her eyes she was no longer in Elliot's apartment. But she wasn't where she expected to be either. In her vision, Vanya was being interrogated by an FBI agent...who now lay dead on the floor in an almost destroyed room.

Vanya was in the centre, her eyes and most of the rest of her glowing with an intense bright light. Cass knew her powers were incredible, she'd learnt as much at the concert, but this was something else. Vanya's powers were getting stronger. She sat in the middle of all the destruction, seemingly unaware of what she was doing.

The force coming from her powers was enough to send Cass staggering backwards. It felt like a magnetic repulsion. No matter how much Cass wanted to press forwards to help her sister, Vanya, whether she knew it or not, was pushing her away. But she was going to get there, no matter how hard it was. She was going to help her sister. She was going to do it!

The surge of energy from Vanya's powers intensified. Cass lost her footing. If she could just make it a few more minutes, her family would arrive and it would all be okay. The doors to the interrogation room were torn clean off and Cass was thrown backwards, skidding down the corridor. Her family were coming. They'd find her, they'd be able to help. Her head hit the secretary's desk and her vision went dark.